Thursday, November 17, 2016

Google Is Building New Massive New London Headquarters

Google has confirmed plans to build a new headquarters in London and create 3,000 jobs, in a move that will be seen as a vote of confidence in Britain’s prospects after Brexit.

The project, which involves building a vast headquarters next to
Google’s existing base in King’s Cross, central London, was thrown into
doubt by the EU referendum and disagreement about its design.
But Google’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, said that while the firm
has reservations about Brexit, it will not be dissuaded from building
an office capable of housing 7,000 staff.

In a speech on Tuesday at Google’s London office, Pichai said: “Here
in the UK, it’s clear to me that computer science has a great future
with the talent, educational institutions, and passion for innovation we
see all around us. We are committed to the UK and excited to continue
our investment in our new King’s Cross campus.”

Pichai’s public approval dispels any lingering doubts about a plan,
first tabled three years ago, that is slated to create 3,000 new jobs by
2020. But he did warn that the government’s expected crackdown on
immigration after the vote to leave the EU runs counter to Google’s
ideals.

“In our experience as a company, when we have been able to bring
people together and operate in an open and connected way it achieves
tremendous impact over time,” he told the BBC. “Those are the values we cherish, and we have been open and public about how we think about these things.

“Increasingly, for the kinds of complex things we do, we need to
bring people who are across many disciplines – with many different
backgrounds – together to solve problems,” he added. “That’s how you can
build newer things, so that is particularly important for us.”

London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, welcomed the announcement, and argued that
it put paid to fears that Brexit would damage the capital’s position as
the leading European technology hub. “This is a vote of confidence in
our great city – creating high-skilled jobs, supporting growth and
demonstrating that London is open to business, new investment and talent
from around the globe.

“London is one of the world’s leading technology hubs and investment
into the capital post-Brexit remains robust, so Google’s expansion will
further strengthen our city’s reputation as a global leader in digital
technology.”

In a nod to Canada, whose immigration website collapsed after the
election of Donald Trump, Khan said: “London is open, and our website is
not going to crash.” As to whether London will benefit more directly
from Trump’s election, he said it depended on how close the prime
minister and the president-elect end up being.

The chancellor, Philip Hammond, said the confirmation of the Google
development was a “big vote of confidence in Britain’s leading position
as a global tech-hub and more evidence that leading firms are choosing
to invest here”.

The new building, which will be Google’s UK headquarters, was reportedly thrown into turmoil
in 2015 when bosses in California rejected the original plans, by
London-based architects AHMM, for being “too boring”, and brought in
Thomas Heatherwick, the designer of the new London bus, the Olympic cauldron and the garden bridge.

The new building will lie alongside the railway station, in an area
currently used by King’s Cross theatre for shows including The Railway
Children, In The Heights, and the David Bowie musical Lazarus.

Google will continue to occupy its current building, a 380,000 sq ft
office at nearby 6 Pancras Square which has room for 2,500 employees.
Construction on a second building that Google will occupy but not own
began earlier this year, with Google’s move due in 2018.

In contrast, the new headquarters will be designed and owned by
Google, a first outside the US. But it could prove problematic for the
company if its tax affairs in the UK are not cleared up in the meantime.